Randy and Cindi Noss will head BADD Fest, a motorcycle show and festival geared toward spreading the word on available local resources on opioid addiction, at New Hope Vineyard Church. Cindi is president of Heaven on Wheels motorcycle club, which is hosting the event. Randy will be the festival’s MC.(Photo: Sheri Trusty/ Correspondent)Buy Photo

FREMONT - Heaven on Wheels Christian motorcycle club is partnering with New Hope Vineyard Church to host BADD Fest, a Bikers Against Doing Drugs motorcycle show and festival geared toward promoting available local resources for people affected by opioid addiction. The free event on Saturday will include live music and information from local organizations.

“Everything is free, including the food. The church just wants to love on the community,” said Cindy Noss of Green Springs, president of Heaven on Wheels, the Fremont chapter of the national Christian Motorcyclists Association.

The event will begin with a police-escorted ride across town. Bikers are encouraged to meet in the parking lot across from Rural King on East State Street at 2:45 p.m. They will take a slow ride to New Hope, where the event will kick off at 3 p.m.

Registration for the bike show will be held the day of the event until 5:30 p.m. The bike show will run through 7:30 p.m., and winners will be announced at 8. Bike games will take place in the parking lot beginning around 6 p.m. Winners will receive prizes donated by a variety of local businesses, including Roeder Racing and Service, Coco Beans and Vibe Salon.

Free popcorn and snow cones will be served throughout the day, and a free dinner, including brats, hot dogs, sides and cookies, will be served starting at 5 p.m.

“New Hope has a wonderful kitchen where the kitchen crew will be working to cook the food for us,” Cindi said.

Buy Photo

A cross adorns the rear fender of Cindi’s Harley. Cindi and Randy have found Christian fellowship and the opportunity to share their faith through Heaven on Wheels, the Fremont chapter of the national Christian Motorcyclists Association.(Photo: Sheri Trusty/Correspondent)

Live bands will provide music throughout the day, including “Jesus Freak” from Toledo and “Under Grace,” a Christian rock group led by Cindi’s husband, Randy Noss, who will also serve as the event’s emcee. Under Grace will perform some of Randy’s original music.

During the festival, Dr. Paul Silcox will talk about the pain his family endured when his 25-year-old son, Joey Silcox, died of a drug overdose three days after returning from a California rehabilitation center in 2016.

Other speakers include Pastor Cornell Lewis, a Columbus firefighter and paramedic who is part of the Columbus Ohio Division of Fire Opiate Task Force. Lewis is pastor of Expanding Visions Ministries and an Army veteran.

Michael Pack will speak about FI Housing, which bills itself as the largest and oldest peer-oriented and peer-operated recovery community organization in Ohio. FI Housing plans to open a branch in Bellevue.

Information booths will be set up throughout the event to distribute information on local resources for opiate addicts and their families. Organizations setting up booths include Corporate Anointing Ministries, Job and Family Services, and local recovery advocate, Richie Webber.

“We’ll have a Memory Tent where people can bring photographs of loved ones they’ve lost to addiction. We’ll have sticky notes there if they want to acknowledge them but don’t have photos with them,” Cindi said. “Next to that, we’ll have a Prayer Tent. There will be people in there willing to pray with you.”

Cindi and Randy are grateful for New Hope’s support of the bike fest, and said they have been overwhelmed by community support for the event, which exemplifies the abundant support for recovering addicts in the county.

“We want people to know they’re not alone,” Cindi said. “There are people out there who want to help them and support them, and there may be resources they may not realize are here.”

That support extends to family and friends of addicts.

“It’s rough out there, so we’re trying to make a little bit of a difference,” Randy said. “It’s hard on the families. There’s a lot of pain, disappointment, fear and everything else that goes along with it.”

New Hope Vineyard Church is at 2507 Hayes Ave., Fremont. The BADD Fest will run from 3 to 10 p.m.